A combine harvester is a known type of agricultural implement which is able to travel along ground carrying a crop to be harvested for harvesting the crop and separating usable grain from chaff, i.e. the remains of the cut stocks upon which the grain grows. The usable grain is collected and stored while the chaff is blown from the combine. Depending upon the configuration of the combine, for example the chaff blower speed, varying amounts of grain are often blown from the combine with the chaff. This can result in significant grain losses and lost profits for a farmer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,395 by Jeffrey Peter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,704 by Richard Bartko, and Canadian Patent No. 2,687,185 by Norman Van Brabant et al, each describe a grain loss receptacle arranged to be releasably mounted beneath the vehicle body of a combine harvester. By dropping the receptacle onto the ground under normal operation of the combine harvester, the receptacle collects chaff and any grain blown from the combine with the chaff so that the amount of grain can be measured and the combine harvester reconfigured to reduce grain loss. In each instance, however, a dedicated mechanism for supporting and selectively dropping the receptacle is required to be permanently attached to the combine harvester, limiting the use of the receptacle to one combine harvester.
A different mechanism for releasing the receptacle from different types of combine harvesters would accordingly be desirable to allow reduction of grain losses across a group of combine harvesters using a single receptacle.